Things I like and things I don't

Things I'm liking

Roasted almonds

Infinitely better than regular almonds. And I'm led to believe they are healthy, or sort of at least. I've been enjoying these as a mid afternoon snack at work, when I start to get the urge to visit the charity chocolate boxes in the kitchen.

My Name is Earl


They are showing repeats of this on the Comedy Channel every night at 7pm. It's not the best show by any means, but thanks to the efforts of Jason Lee in the titular role, it's not bad. With pretty much nothing on TV now, this is becoming a part of my weeknight rotation, right before I head to the gym at 7.30pm, avoiding nightly knuckledheaded bodybuilder hour.

Having a beard

The aesthetic appeal is certainly arguable, but you can't argue with sleeping in an extra five minutes every day.

Corey's new blog

One of my closest friends, Corey Devlin, aka F'ing Corey (pictured below), now has his own blog. You can check it out here: http://myfisho.blogspot.com/. I have high expectations for this blog, and am especially impressed that he's started posting from work as of today. I can't help but think that there is still room on the blogging bandwagon for a few more though. Penglis - would it kill you to give us some insights into life with the Poms? Ribar, I'm sure you've got some great stories you could share that won't get you fired? If I told you you could even do it while you're at work, is that something you might be interested in?

Anyway with new bloggers like Cors popping up I'm going to have step up my game, expect Simmons-esque posts from now on a regular basis (length-wise, not quality-wise).

"9 Crimes" filmclip by Damien Rice



I didn't check this out until Ribar put me onto it a few days ago - to be honest it's a bit weird, the whole thing with Lisa's head as a balloon. But Damien Rice is a genius so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. I realise there are more important things going on in the world, but it makes me sad that this remains unheard and unseen by 99% of the population, with the garbage out there that sells millions of copies. If you can listen to this without getting chills you're a harder person than I.

"Easy Tiger" by Ryan Adams

This album is starting to grow on me - there's still a few too many full on country songs, but it's definitely his best since "Cold Roses". And just in time too, since I'll be seeing him in a month from now.

Complex magazine

It's kind of expensive, and a little bit gangsta, but I like reading this. Half of each issue is pop culture - movies, music, TV etc, and then the other half (bound upside down behind a second cover) is a kind of buyers guide - collectable sneakers, watches, stuff likes that. Lots of completely unnecessary items, but it soothes my inner-materialist. The current issue features a joint cover with the star of the best movie of the year - Seth Rogen - and the man behind the greatest rap album ever - RZA. How can you go wrong?

Rap music

I'll admit that 95% of it sucks, I won't even debate that. But for every 19 pieces of crap, there's one piece of gold*.

So, if you only listen to ten hip hop songs in your life, make it these ten**.

1. 100 Miles and Running - NWA
2. Jesus Walks - Kanye West
3. Get By - Talib Kweli
4. Protect Ya Neck - Wu Tang Clan ***



5. Hit 'Em Up - Tupac ****
6. Today Was a Good Day - Ice Cube
7. Don't Sweat the Technique - Eric B and Rakim
8. Rock Superstar - Cypress Hill
9. Get the F... Outta Dodge - Public Enemy
10. Ante Up - M.O.P

*Not an exact mathematical formula.
** If you're offended by bad language, objectification of women, and random death threats, best to steer clear of songs 1, 5, 6, 9 and 10. Especially 5 which manages to score the trifecta.
*** Actually the entire first album - "Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers" - is fantastic, and still sounds fresh and unique 14 years after it was released. For some reason - maybe the 95% philosophy outlined above - there are very few great hip hop albums - most have one or two good songs and a lot of filler. This is the exception. This group were also part of one of my all-time favourite moments on "The Larry Sanders Show", when they were booked to appear on the show, and a horrified Hank, after looking through the CD booklet exclaimed "They look like car jackers!"
**** I've mentioned this to friends before, but I find this song amazing as it probably led to the murder of its author, which doesn't happen real often, and makes me feel a little uneasy about including it on the above list. On the other hand it's hell catchy.

Sports on the world wide interweb

Just quickly, if you're looking for a good NBA podcast, you should subscribe to "The Basketball Jones" - you can get it here: http://www.thebasketballjones.net/, or through iTunes. And one sportswriter/blogger I'd recommend is MJD who writes a daily column here: http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/tag/TheDebriefing/.

Things that kind of suck

Remixes of popular songs

I was shopping in an exclusive boutique today (OK, fine, it was Cotton On, are you happy now?) when I heard a remix of the 80's song "Africa" by Toto. Now this song has a special place in my heart, but the remix was horrible. Why do we need a techno "Africa"? What purpose does this serve? I remember a couple of years ago when Forcey was annoyed with some stupid remix of "Boys of Summer". At the time I couldn't really care less, but now I think I understand how he felt. Anyway I'm sure I'm not alone here - I overheard a Mum telling her young child "It's OK, just cover your ears for the next few minutes." She was probably talking about the volume of the music, but I like to think she was talking about the song itself. Kid's don't need to be hearing that stuff.



Personal websites other than blogspot

Blogspot has already established itself as the site of choice for some of Adelaide's most exciting new bloggers, such as myself, Mirjana and Corey. Still there are some people who think they know better, and are using other, inferior sites.

Gav (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=101554496) - like Forcey once said, Myspace is just one step away from being a dating site. Plus it's ridiculous - millions of people putting up a couple of pictures, and a list of their favourite bands, with hundreds of "friends" with names like "psychokiller666" leaving messages like "stopped by your site to say hello", "you rock", "had a sick time Friday night" and other inane nonsense.

Paul (http://www.tagworld.com/forcey) - I know you're committed to team Tagworld, but if you were to make the change to blogspot, you would still be able to keep your video clips, my eyes wouldn't hurt so much, and my computer would crash less often.

The Police at Football Park

I was surprised to hear that they are booked to play Footy Park, and I'm not sure how they'll go filling the place. It seems to me that most bands that play Football Park are a) legendary bands with 20 years or more of sustained popularity (eg U2), or b) lowest common demoninator rubbish that the chicks love (eg Robbie Williams). I'm sure the Police were huge in their time (I think they broke up when I was like 8 years old), and they still get played a lot on Mix FM, but I don't see 50,000 Adelaide residents shelling out $100-$250 to go to this. Maybe I'm wrong though. Hopefully Sting comes to his senses and leave Kanye behind at least.

Guys at my gym who don't know how to park . . .

And think they can park in areas that are clearly designated thoroughfares. Perhaps 90% of the time these cars are either Commodores or Skylines, so yeah, you come to your own conclusions.

The Chinese Government

A few of my regular readers would be aware of this story, and in terms of stories about the Chinese Government, it's more humourous than shocking. Anyway, news surfaced this week that the Chinese Government had issued a statement saying it was displeased with Yao Ming, the star of their national basketball team and starting centre with the Houston Rockets. His crime - apparently he had not returned fast enough to China to train with the National team after the completion of the NBA season, because he was planning his wedding, and spending time promoting the upcoming Special Olympics, and 2008 Olympics, which are to be held in . . . Beijing! In their own country! This is ridiculous enough on its own, but the comments from the Government were particularly ludicous (and a litle bit chilling):


"No matter how lofty public welfare activities are, they can't be allowed to take first place in a player's life," the China Sports Daily, a federation-owned newspaper, said in an article appearing Tuesday.

"No matter how sweet personal life is, it can't be compared to the exultation of capturing glory for one's nation," the article said.

Sure it's not on the same level as running down students in Tienamen Square or enslaving an entire country, but it shows you that China is still a pretty Orwellian type of place to live, and makes you appreciate the lives we live in Australia.